This American Life Analysis

When I first started playing the episode, Ira Glass, host and producer of This American Life, immediately grabbed my attention with the line, “Sometimes things are not what they seem. Big news, I know. Here’s an interesting example of it.” Ira, with a voice clear and engaging, went on to describe the account of Damien Cave, a reporter for The New York Times, on an airplane. Damien was looking through an in-flight magazine that was using ads for tourists to attract people to various lands that were centers of drug and gang-related violence. The prologue had started with an interview with Damien and captured vivid descriptions of his analysis of how ads are tools of those in power to coerce people into thinking and consuming. “Propaganda is

like poetry. You need to know how to read it,” said Damien. Ira goes on to introduce the program for the day, four acts or stories that illustrate that how propaganda effectively changes the way we feel and perceive.
My first impression of this prologue was that it captivating enough for me to want more. The scene that was created was relatable; most of us have seen those types of advertisements for exotic destinations. The introduction of the topic was well written and poetic. The placement of the title sequence came after the prologue, which made it seem less conventional than just adding it towards the beginning. The music was not constant throughout the dialogue of Ira and Damien, but would arise out of purpose. When the conversation was more serious, there would be light music that would ease the tension. A strong introduction, this episode had led me to believe that there was something powerful to come.

The Stories
This particular episode was divided into four acts: Act One.

Guerilla Marketing, Act Two. Not Our Town, Act 3. The Spy Who Didn’t Know She Was a Spy, and Act Four. Party On! Each story was so different, yet was connected by the overarching theme that I have previously mentioned. The first story was about how Jose Sokoloff’s ad agency, Lowe SSP3 was hired by the Colombian government to persuade as many FARC guerilla fighters as possible. It was a cry for help from the government to end the war. Jose went to talk about the various campaigns he ran, all very successful and moving. This act came in the form of an interview between Sean Cole, a contributor to the show and Jose himself. With a few clips from Jose’s Ted Talk, this added element of media added a layer of depth and excitement to the act. The beauty of this portion lay in the vivid description of the ads run by the agency and its effects. With light Latin-inspired music to go with the setting created by the content, the act hit a turning point when Jose described the demobilization of guerilla fighters around Christmas time. The agency put small gifts, toys, letters, and artifacts from the family members of the fighters into beautiful, glowing balls that flowed down a major river in Colombia. Jose’s description of the scene, paired with lovely music created to set an emotional mood. The elegance and beauty of the ad was captured through Jose’s

narrative.
In the second story, a more personal, less formal tone was used to convey the message. Jon Mooallem had given us a personal account of his experience at his six year old daughter’s musical at a public school in San Francisco. What made this particular piece particularly moving was the elements of humor and transition. This act had used real sound bites and clips from the musical with Jon narrating his thoughts and his observations throughout his experience. The musical had been described as a propaganda piece itself to shed light on the looming threat of “Big Tech” in the Bay area. The themes of wealth inequality, gentrification, and corporate greed were all messages that were explicitly shown throughout the play. Jon’s reactions were hilarious. Imagine watching a musical full of young children acting out the actual state of the tech bubble in the Bay Area, a strange sight indeed. As Jon took us through the play with great insight into the young characters of the play, he transitioned the point of focus to a more serious conversation. He talked about his interaction with a fellow neighbor, a tech entrepreneur, whose kid was also in the play. That was a real interaction that was telling of material conditions that were affecting working communities in the Bay Area. The mood created by Jon’s narrative went from light-hearted happiness to sadness. Jon later revealed that he was pushed out of his neighborhood a few months later and had to relocate somewhere else. The sad irony of it all and the emotional transitions leading up to a bigger cliffhanger kept me engaged and empathizing with Jon and his family.
In the third story, Ira Glass had used the element of spontaneity in this act. He recorded a real-live telephone conversation with a woman named Marion Leary. She had been perpetrating covert propaganda on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency through the use of Twitter. “Clean water is important to me. I support EPA’s efforts to protect it for my health, my family, and my community,” she tweeted. The EPA earlier that day had told its audience to tweet that line if they agreed with it. Marion’s emotions went from confused, shock, to defending her decision to tweet the piece of propaganda. Ira was able to guide the interview in a professional manner and eventually created a wonderful segment that the listeners of America could relate to.
In the final story, the strength of comparison as connection was an element of this act that I found to be a useful way of having an American audience understand the foreign state of the Chinese political climate.

Nancy Updike, a producer of the show was able to interview Evan Osnos, the author of Age of Ambition, a book about China and the propaganda of the Communist Party. Nancy explained the nature of growing discontent among Chinese citizens with the Communist bureaucracy. As Chinese citizens grow poorer, the bureaucracy grow wealthier. Nancy and Evan went to explain that the concept of “National Humility” was increasing nationalism and restoring order in China. After listening to this episode, it was clear to me that this episode did what it sought ought to do - to give the audience an opportunity to understand the different aspects of how propaganda is used in our daily lives. More importantly, it provides the audience with insight into who uses it and for what purpose. Overall the rhetorical appeals, the use of sound bites, interviews, and fruitful transitions are memorable aspects that I found in this

episode.